


Trust

by forthegloryofdragons



Series: Avatar: The Oneshots [1]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Before The Southern Raiders, Book 3: Fire, But if you squint, Gen, Pre-Katara/Zuko (Avatar), Season/Series 03, Trust Issues, not really katara/zuko
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-03
Updated: 2020-05-03
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:27:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 310
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23986780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/forthegloryofdragons/pseuds/forthegloryofdragons
Summary: She wants to trust him. So she does.
Series: Avatar: The Oneshots [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1729549
Kudos: 17





	Trust

**Author's Note:**

> Check it out! My first ATLA fic! If you can even call it that. I'm just trying to work through a major block with these short writing exercises. Don't mind me.

She wants to trust him.

She keeps one eye trained on him as he demonstrates techniques for Aang, waiting for the slightest move out of line, a single flame too close to his skin. She’s ready to pounce like a saber-toothed moose lion on its prey. 

She should lighten up. 

He hasn’t given her any reason to think he might still harbour ill intentions towards them. There’s no hostility in his eyes, spirits know she has seen that look on him far too often than she’d like. Just the occasional eye roll at his pupil’s antics, but there’s the tiniest bit of amusement in the little upward curve of his lips.

She wants to see him change.

She sees it in the way he bends, since returning from his little field trip with Aang. The anger she’d always associated with firebending was gone. As he shifts from one stance to the next, letting flames burst from where his fists punch through air, she finds it different, unfamiliar. His expression holds rage, a sight she’s used to, but something has shifted. His movements are steadier, and it’s almost like he’s in control of the fire.

She wants to think she can work with him.

Even when he brings her father home, it’s not enough. He can’t bring her back, but the second he offers to help her avenge her mother, she reconsiders. Aang wants her to forgive that monster of a man. Zuko understands, so for the first time, she steps off the fragile line they’ve been walking. 

He knows what she needs. She knows he would not give her a reason to do away with him in an instant, which she is most capable of. 

He’s proven himself to be a good ally, a friend to the others. If they can trust him, maybe she can too.

So she does. 


End file.
